A vandal defiled a larger-than-life statue of Christopher Columbus in Central Park on Tuesday, leaving “blood”-red paint on the explorer’s hands and scrawling “Hate will not be tolerated” on its pedestal.

The vandal also left an apparent threat at the base of the 7-foot-tall bronze: “#somethingscoming.”

A worker for the Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit which oversees maintenance in the park, discovered the vandalized statue, located in the southern portion of the park at the foot of The Mall walkway near Center Drive, around 7 a.m. and called police, authorities said.

A paper sign was also plastered to the pedestal that read “Save your soul” with the hashtag “#somethingscoming.”

New Yorkers and tourists alike had mixed reactions regarding the defacement.

“It reflects a lot of what’s going on in the world right now and this country … it’s about the unrest in the world,” said Sheri Berger, 54, as she was walking her dog through the green space.

He waged the abusive campaign just steps from the NYPD’s Times Square substation at 43rd Street and Broadway.

The weekend incident was the second defacing of a Columbus statue in the area this month.

Another vandal defaced a statue of the controversial Italian explorer in Central Park. That person is still on the loose.

The statue’s hands were brushed with red paint and the pedestal scrawled with graffiti, including the hashtag “#somethingscoming.” The bronze statue, just north of the 65th Street park transverse, also had the words “Hate will not be tolerated” written in white paint on its pedestal.

Law-enforcement sources said there was surveillance video and that they planned to watch the statue more closely.

Statues of Columbus have become part of a national debate about art depicting historical people with controversial pasts. The dispute led to violence in August, when white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, Va., to protest the removal of a statue of the Robert E. Lee. A woman died during a protest of their gathering.

In the Big Apple, Mayor de Blasio has organized a commission to review the city’s statue collection, including images of Columbus, who is often blamed for wreaking havoc on the health of indigenous people after making his 1492 Caribbean voyage.

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In the city that’s the biggest terror target in the world, the NYPD is providing 24/7 body-guard services to the marble statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle.

The patrols, which consist of one or two cops working eight-hour shifts, were set up in hopes of preventing any more vandalism before Monday’s Columbus Day holiday.

“The statue has been there for years and years [since 1892] without any issues,” groused one law-enforcement source.

“Now because everybody’s complaining about Columbus, and they attacked him with paint, we have to put cops on there to make sure nobody does it anymore,” said the source, calling the new patrol a necessary, but irritating, “waste of manpower.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Columbus Circle monument was ringed in metal barricades. A patrol car with two uniformed cops was parked within the circle.

“I think it’s a bit much,” mused one woman as she passed by.

Controversy has swirled around the city’s five Columbus statues in recent weeks, an offshoot of the nationwide backlash against monuments honoring Confederate generals and other controversial figures.

Italian-American leaders have been at war with Mayor de Blasio over his recent decision to appoint a commission to review the fate of the city’s potentially offensive monuments.

Hizzoner has refused to guarantee that the Columbus statues will be untouched.

Meanwhile, at least three local Columbus statues have been splashed with paint or defaced with graffiti in recent weeks.

The Columbus in the circle had some paisans in high places pulling strings to secure the celebrity-worthy protection.

Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, told The Post he called Commissioner Joseph Esposito at the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, who called his old pals at the NYPD, where he was Chief of Department until 2013.

“I spoke to Joe Esposito. He took care of it.” Vivolo said.

The Columbus Circle monument had already been under police protection for nearly a week on Sept. 23 when a homeless vandal, Daniel Kimery, 38, admittedly used pink nail polish to deface the left hand of a bronze relief of Columbus on the statue’s pedestal.

Nabbed in the act, Kimery “explained” that the pink signified the blood on Columbus’s hands, then pleaded guilty and got off with $170 in fees and surcharges , court records show.

Nearby on Sept. 12, vandals splashed red paint on the hands of the Columbus statue in Central Park; in late August the Columbus statue in Astoria was stenciled with blue paint reading, “Don’t Honor Genocide.”

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The NYPD has been deploying officers to guard the statue of Christopher Columbus at Columbus Circle. Christopher Sadowski

The commission Mayor de Blasio appointed to study monuments dedicated to controversial historical figures like Christopher Columbus will hold its first meeting Tuesday at City Hall– the day after Columbus Day, sources said.

De Blasio gave the 18-member panel 90 days to submit its non-binding proposals when it was appointed a month ago.

The panel’s existence has enraged New York City’s Italian American civic leaders, who are fighting to block a growing anti-Columbus movement from taking hold in the Big Apple.

A few cities, including Los Angeles, have scrapped Columbus Day and renamed it in honor of “indigenous” people.

Italian American leaders questioning the timing of the panel’s first meeting.

“Scheduling the first meeting the day after Columbus Day is a cowardly indication of the commission’s intention to ignore the Italian-American community whose NY values were on display throughout the state,” said Philip Foglia, head of the Italian American Legal Defense Fund.

“Scheduling a meeting with little or no public notice does not inspire confidence the commission even has a clue as to New York values. Please take notice that nearly half of the commission members are not even native New Yorkers.“

De Blasio hastily announced he was setting up the panel following rioting by white supremacists opposing the removal of confederate statues in Charlottesville, Va.

He’s gotten blow back from Italian American groups ever since.

Actor Chazz Palminerti told The Post that City Hall’s failure to stand up for Columbus is the reason he skipped the mayor’s Italian Heritage reception Thursday night to accept an honor.

“The Italian-American community is rightfully upset with the disrespect it is enduring by those challenging Columbus statues. I stand emphatically with my community and felt it inappropriate to give any legitimacy to those not supportive of Italian Americans on this important issue,” Palminteri said in a statement.

“Our founding fathers saw fit to name the capital district in Columbus honor and now a commission is going to decide if his statue is appropriate? Ridiculous!”

Amid the controversy, vandals have defaced the Columbus monuments at Columbus Circle and in Central Park, triggering 24-7 police protection of the statues.

De Blasio has tried to quell the controversy.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding of what options could be utilized,” the mayor said in late August.

He said contested monuments might get plaques with explanations instead of being removed.

His spokesman said there is “no plan to touch” the Columbus statue in Columbus Circle.

Italian-Americans revere Columbus for discovering the Americas, seeing him a symbol of pride and progress.

But critics, citing evidence of Columbus’ atrocities committed against the Taino indians and other native people in the Caribbean , said he doesn’t deserve to be put on a pedestal.

Activist groups will hold an anti-Columbus Day tour at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday urging the city to “end its love affair with Christopher Columbus by replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.“

The petition sponsored by Decolonize This Place has gathered over 6,000 signatures.

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A radical Brooklyn lawmaker on Monday introduced a new state bill to rename Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day, as he slammed the famed explorer as a “murderer.”

“This land that all of us inhabit is stolen land – stolen from the indigenous people who were slaughtered and forced onto reservations ,” Assemblyman Charles "Slap Whitey" Barron told The Post , adding “they should be recognized in replace of Columbus Day.”

Barron described Columbus as a “colonizer” who “enslaved Africans and slaughtered indigenous people.”

“He deserves scorn, not glorification,” he added.

Bill A8676 states: “Renaming the holiday is a small beginning in recognizing indigenous people for their historic ongoing contributions to history , culture and economic life.”

“Not only did Columbus not discover America, some historians say he never even stepped foot on American soil,” Barron said.

Several states, including Vermont, Minnesota and Alaska have replaced the second Monday in October with “Indigenous People’s Day” as an alternative to Columbus Day.

This year, the holiday comes amid a national debate over statues dedicated to controversial historical figures triggered by the violence sparked by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia in August over the removal of a statue of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee.

A pair of Columbus statues in The Big Apple were recently vandalized, including one in Central Park in which a vandal painted red paint on its hands and scrawled: “Hate will not be tolerated” at its pedestal.

Meanwhile, Mayor de Blasio has appointed a commission to review monuments dedicated to controversial historical figures like Columbus.

“Not only should the Columbus statues come down, but also the statues of Thomas Jefferson…and George Washington,” Barron said.

“It’s easy to talk about the Confederacy,” Barron said, referring to the removal of Confederate statues, adding, “It’s more challenging for Americans to realize the history started off with enslavement.”

Barron’s bill will go through the committee process in January.

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Hundreds of New Yorkers sent a message to Mayor de Blasio on Sunday: Keep your hands off Christopher Columbus!

One day before the nation celebrates Columbus’ discovery of the New World, lawmakers and parade-goers in The Bronx demanded Hizzoner ignore “over-politicized rhetoric” and ensure that the famed explorer’s statue remain in Columbus Circle.

More than 1,000 people signed a petition circulated at the 41st annual Bronx Columbus Day Parade in Morris Park — to which de Blasio was notably not invited — to keep the iconic monument from the “chopping block.”

“It represents too many important things to be removed to make a few people happy,” he added. “Especially as an Italian-American, I find it offensive.”

Neighborhood resident Kathy Ann Vignola, 62, also ripped de Blasio for assembling an 18-member commission to help decide the fate of “oppressive” monuments that are “inconsistent with the values of New York City.”

“He can’t make the decision himself? It’s an easy decision: Leave the statue alone!” she said.

The parade’s grand marshal, city Councilman James Vacca (D-Bronx) — whose late dad was an Italian immigrant — didn’t return requests for comment.

Aides to state Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj (D-Bronx) and Assemblyman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) handed out cannoli while gathering signatures on a petition that seeks to exclude the Columbus Circle statue from consideration by the commission.

Members include civil-rights activist Harry Belafonte and Columbia University Professor Mabel Wilson, an expert on “race and modern architecture.”

Last month, de Blasio gave the group until Dec. 7 — more than a month after he’s up for re-election — to submit recommendations.

“I think this commission is nonsense,” Sen. Klein said. “You don’t have a commission to tear down statues. You educate people about the reason why those statues are there. That’s what it’s all about. People who forget our history are doomed to repeat it.”

Parade-goer Melanie Greco, 60, of Parkchester, said she was planning to sign the petition.

“If there is anything I can do to save the statue, even if it’s just signing a piece of paper, I’ll do it,” she said.

The home-care aide said de Blasio “isn’t welcome here today.”

“This is supposed to be a joyous day and his presence would just taint it,” she added. “It would take away from all the good things.”

De Blasio is scheduled to march in Monday’s massive Columbus Day Parade up Fifth Avenue.

He last joined in the Bronx parade in 2015, but earlier this month, organizer Tony Signorile said de Blasio wasn’t invited — and called him a “fake Italian” for refusing to take a stand in support of the Columbus Circle statue.

Organizers of Sunday’s Hispanic Day Parade in Manhattan expressed pride in Christopher Columbus — and said his statue should remain in place at Columbus Circle.

“We celebrate the parade around Oct. 12 each year because that’s the day we recognize Columbus coming to the Americas,” said Colombian immigrant Aldolfo del Valle, 77, of Flushing who emceed the annual march up Fifth Avenue.

“He was Italian, but he came in the name of Spain and we speak Spanish. We share a Spanish heritage.”

Joseph Maldonado, president of the Sanitation Department’s Hispanic Society — and a member of the Grand Council of Hispanic Societies in Public Service, which sponsors the parade — called the Columbus Circle monument “part of American history.”

“The Columbus statue should stay up — it’s a must,” he said.

Maldonado also noted that the parade was established in part to honor Columbus and his 1492 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.

“Columbus landed in a lot of Latin countries,” he said. “It was Spain who gave him the ships.”

Paulina Valle, who choreographed the dance routine for parade group Expresiones de Chilé, said, “Columbus represents the Hispanic culture in New York, and removing an icon like that is like wiping off our identities.

“New York City and the whole USA in general is a country made up of immigrants and the statue represents immigrants.”

Other attendees said they favored removing the statue.

“Christopher Columbus was not our founder. This belonged first to our American Indians. He took a lot. There were people here prior to him that deserve a statue more than he does ,” said Andrea Jaramillo, 22, a fashion marketing student of Colombian descent from Islip, LI.

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